Jane Pickens

Singer/actress Jane Pickens had an extensive career in nightclubs, on the legitimate stage, on radio, on records, and on television from the 1930s to the '50s. She was born August 10, 1912 (some sources say 1908 or 1909) in Macon, GA, as one of four sisters. At age 14, she went to Philadelphia to study music at the Curtis Institute; later, she studied at the Fontainebleau in Paris and earned a Master's degree at Juilliard. Meanwhile, the family had moved to Atlanta and then, in 1932, to New York. With two of her sisters, Pickens (who then performed under the name Georgia Pickens) formed the vocal trio the Pickens Sisters. They signed a recording contract with RCA Victor (making their recording debut with the single "Was That the Human Thing to Do?"/"Goodnight, Moon" on February 16, 1932) and began to sing on the radio. They made their film debut in the 1933 film Sitting Pretty, and their RCA recording of "Did You Ever See a Dream Walking?" from its score was a hit. A year later, they debuted on Broadway in the musical revue Thumbs Up!, which opened on December 27, 1934; Jane Pickens earned a credit for vocal arrangements for the show. The Pickens Sisters broke up when Pickens' sisters got married and retired. She also married, to Russell Clark, and gave birth to a daughter, but the marriage ended in divorce, and she went on with her career. She sang on radio (her show for NBC was called Saturday Night Party) and occasionally recorded, also appearing live with the New York Philharmonic and the Philadelphia Orchestra, and she returned to Broadway as a solo singer in the musical revues Ziegfeld Follies of 1936 (September 14, 1936) and Boys and Girls Together (October 1, 1940). In 1940, Columbia Records released her album Jane Pickens Sings, consisting of four 78 rpm discs. In May 1946, she was on CBS' American Melody Hour while appearing at the Wedgewood Room of the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York. Pickens' first Broadway appearance in a "book" musical came with the operetta Regina (October 31, 1949), in which she had the title role. Her final Broadway part came with a revival of Music in the Air (October 8, 1951), and she recorded an album of the show's songs released by RCA. From January to September 1954, she hosted her own TV show on ABC, The Jane Pickens Show, a 15-minute musical program running on Sunday nights. That year, she married wealthy investment broker William C. Langley, and this marked her retirement from a full-time professional career. Langley died in 1962. In 1972, she entered politics, unsuccessfully running for the House of Representatives on the Republican-Conservative line against then-Congressman and later New York Mayor Ed Koch. In 1977, she married Walter Hoving, an owner of Tiffany and Bonwit Teller, who died in 1989. She spent her later years living on Park Avenue and in Newport, RI, and devoting herself to charitable activities. She died in Newport on February 21, 1992. ~ William Ruhlmann